Critical Appraisal Skills Programme And Their Perceptions Of Developing Compassionate Nurses

Regrettably, the existence of nursing depends on the medical inadequacy of others. Unfortunately, nursing exists because people get hurt, cannot care for themselves, or need assistance with daily activities. Carol Taylor (2011), author of Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Nursing Care, writes, “Nursing care involves any number of activities, from carrying out complicated technical procedures to something as seemingly as holding a hand” (p. 5). Taylor explains it is the duty of a nurse not only to learn the pertinent skills but also to bond with and comfort others. Nurses have to do and become many things: They must be stern when necessary, compassionate when needed, open minded

The article depicted the human side of nurses; it tells how nurses formulate that that bond with their patients and their families, nurturing them through life challenges to the end, while showing the emotional impact that is produced from that formed relationship. Through the entire article, it was very easy to see the

Critical reflection is vital to develop evidence based practice for safe and quality approaches to professional nursing practice. Nursing professionals should critically reflect on events to identify what health professionals might do to improve their practice and reduce the risk of a similar error. Reflective practice can help to learn from their mistakes, be empowered and most importantly to deliver best possible care to patient as nurses must work closely with their patients to develop a therapeutic relationship. Critical reflection is a valuable skill to ensure patient centred care. This practice promotes personal development by enhancing students’ self-awareness, their sense of community, and their sense of their own capacities for

Nurses actively preserve the dignity of people through practiced kindness and respect for the vulnerability and powerlessness of people in their care… This vulnerability creates a power differential in the relationship between nurses and persons in their care that must be recognised and managed.7 A diagram representing a continuum of professional behaviour provides a picture of therapeutic versus non-therapeutic behaviour in the relationship between the nurse and the persons in their care.8

The role of a nurse is viewed as stressful, so nurses need to be emotionally ready and be physically fit to participate in delivering care. Acts of kindness, trustworthiness, promoting privacy, ensuring dignity, being engrossed into the artistry of caring and engaging in anti-discriminatory practice (Baughan & Smith 2008) by respecting everyone, irrespective of age, culture, gender, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and the condition from which they are afflicted, are caring indicators of a nurse.

Compassion is one of the fundamental characteristics implemented into patient care by health care providers. Compassion signifies “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering” (Compassion, n.d.). Nurses and other health care providers provide selfless service, tireless dedication, compassion, and often neglect their personal needs, which

First of all, I recognized that I was dealing with humans, and not just dealing with a disease process and application of the nursing process in the aspect of restoring patient health. I was dealing with emotions, and families, and cultural beliefs that influenced individual’s aspects of care. I started to see that health did not just incorporate healing the disease, but also recognized the importance of making sure patient’s felt that their

This essay will consider ethics in nursing, discuss values and morals and how dignity and respect in patient care is influenced; considering the importance of reflection and the implications it has on effective practice from the perspective of a student nurse. The scenario “Call Me Joe” provided by Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2010a) highlights concerning issues and bad practice that are happening in modern day nursing practice, and using the Driscoll and Teh (2001) reflective model: What, Now What and So What, to consider the care that Joe is receiving; considering how the nursing practice affects him directly and the implications of the nature of knowledge in nursing practice. Part of the way in which nursing practice is

Compassionate care is a big talking point right now in the media and within the healthcare sector with the Francis report being published earlier this year regarding the failings by Mid Staffordshire and Scotland are now waiting for their own report to be issued regarding the failings at the Vale of Leven in Dumbarton. The nursing and midwifery council have already started on some the imperative changes to be made that the Francis report issued. The chief executive of the nursing and midwifery council has said in her executive statement regarding the Francis report that they are to re-examine the current teaching that nurses receive and the professional standards. Smith, J. (Nursing and Midwifery Council) all of these failings are all relate d to compassionate care. The people who died in these hospitals were clearly not heard when they complained of feeling unwell and did not receive compassionate care so why was this? Next to be discussed is compassion fatigue and how this may reflect onto nursing practice in providing sufficient compassion.

Compassion and respect are essential attitudes for nursing practice. Compassion has been described as the “wounding of the heart” or a

When choosing to pursue a career in the health care field, most enter the workplace with the desire to help and provide care for patients who are critically ill (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011). Far too often, these health professionals who were once sympathetic and caring become victims of compassion fatigue (Lombardo & Eyre, 2011). As a working health professional it is ones duty to compassionately care for the sick, wounded and traumatized patients, which involves being exposed daily to the patient’s pain, suffering and trauma (Coetzee & Klopper, 2010). Experiencing this type of trauma first hand is an un-recognized side effect of being a health care professional (Briscoe, 2014). It is easy to get wrapped up in patients, their

Compassion represents an “acknowledgement of another’s suffering and is accompanied by the expression of a desire to ease or end that suffering.” (Van der Cingal, 2009, p. 124) This is a fundamental characteristic usually found in health care workers and nurses especially. In one twelve hour shift, a nurse’s job can change from taking vitals and administering medications to performing life saving measures

The scenario outlined the attitude of the practice nurse towards a patient. There is no respect, compassion and kindness showed towards the patient (Nursing & Midwifery Council Code,2015, 2.1). As a nurse, they have a duty to promote the

Compassion is a crucial aspect of nursing; it involves seeing the patients as more than just a medical problem. Patients look to nurses as a source of comfort to help them deal with their emotions and understand their medical problems. In Norway, a study was conducted to find the role of compassion in nursing and

Nurses follow six clear values that the NHS hospital’s think are important in compassionate care: ‘respect and dignity, commitment to quality care, everyone counts, working together for patients, improving care and finally compassion itself as a key aspect (NHS Constitution, 2012).’ Nurses use value based approach within compassionate care as it is about the resilience –the ability to ‘bounce back’ from a situation– and the control the nurse has during patient care. Example of a situation a nurse might need to bounce back from is the loss of a patient who seemed to have improving health, of course the nurse will need time for reflection and grief but the tragic incident cannot get in the way of treating other patients in the future (Arrogante, 2017). As this could cause further complications and causes distress to another patient’s care due to the nurse not being in the right mind-set. This means value based approach to compassionate care is lost, as the nurse has forgotten two of the key values which is commitment to quality care and improving